Clinical RN RCA Coordinator - Patient Safety

UT Southwestern Medical Center•Dallas, TX

16h

About The Position

Under moderate supervision, conducts complex investigations of patient safety events across the Hospital Patient Safety team's purview. Collects and analyzes information from documentation and interviews to reconstruct timelines and identify causal relationships using cause mapping, High Reliability principles, patient safety principles, human factors, and systems-based thinking. Ensures accurate documentation and supports the development and tracking of corrective actions. The role provides dedicated investigative expertise to support advanced patient safety investigations, identify systemic risks, and ensure effective implementation and sustainability of corrective actions. It strengthens organizational learning, regulatory readiness, accountability, and proactive risk reduction across the hospital. The coordinator investigates adverse events, serious safety events, near misses, and high-risk occurrences; prepares reports and presents findings to multidisciplinary teams and leaders; monitors corrective action plans; analyzes safety data; and supports quality improvement and high-reliability initiatives.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Nursing.
Three years of healthcare experience.
Previous experience in event investigation or quality improvement.
Registered Nurse (RN) license/certification.
Analytical and investigative skills.
Knowledge of patient safety and human factors.
Effective communication skills.
Ability to manage multiple priorities.
Working knowledge of common business software, including Microsoft Office.

Nice To Haves

Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS).
Certified Professional in Healthcare Risk Management (CPHRM).

Responsibilities

Independently investigate adverse events, serious safety events, near misses, and high-risk occurrences through data collection, medical record review, staff interviews, and analysis of organizational processes.
Evaluate clinical, operational, environmental, and human performance factors and complete investigations within regulatory and organizational timelines.
Create detailed event chronologies using clinical documentation, witness accounts, workflow processes, and system influences.
Identify process gaps, communication breakdowns, handoff failures, and latent organizational conditions that may have contributed to events.
Apply Root Cause Analysis, Human Factors Engineering, Cause-and-Effect Mapping, Systems Analysis, and other evidence-based investigative methods to identify underlying contributors and systemic vulnerabilities.
Differentiate active failures from latent conditions and assess organizational risk factors affecting safety outcomes.
Prepare objective investigation reports summarizing findings, causal factors, risk assessments, and recommended corrective actions.
Maintain investigative records, documentation, action-item tracking, and workload metrics for regulatory compliance, accreditation, and organizational reporting.
Present investigation findings, causal analyses, and recommendations to multidisciplinary RCA teams, operational leaders, physicians, and executive leadership.
Communicate complex clinical and operational information and facilitate agreement on corrective actions and risk-reduction strategies.
Collaborate with operational leaders to develop measurable corrective action plans.
Monitor corrective action implementation, validate intervention effectiveness, escalate barriers or delays, and report status to leadership.
Analyze trends across safety events, sentinel events, near misses, patient complaints, and quality indicators to identify recurring patterns and enterprise-wide vulnerabilities.
Use analytical tools and performance data to prioritize improvement opportunities and support proactive risk management.
Serve as a subject matter expert in patient safety, root cause analysis, Failure Mode and Effects Analysis, and event investigation methods.
Partner with clinical, operational, quality, and risk management leaders to advance safety culture, high reliability, and strategic quality improvement initiatives.

Benefits

PPO medical plan available day one at no cost for full-time employee-only coverage.
100% coverage for preventive healthcare with no copay.
Paid Time Off available day one.
Retirement programs through the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS).
Paid parental leave.
Wellness programs.
Tuition reimbursement.
Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) qualified employer.
On-site childcare.
Paid holidays.
Wage and merit increases.